Norman was having trouble getting started on this one because he was distracted; he'd asked out a girl he liked and she'd turned him down, saying she was busy that night. One of his friends was like, "She actually WAS busy, you dope. She likes you, ask her out!" He did; 2 weeks later he proposed!

I believe you can find both being used to this day: Warner Studio uses "soundstage" on its backlot tour, whereas Fox still uses "sound stage" in their material.

I'm fascinated (and delighted) at movies old enough to spell it "screen play" in the credits. Ngram suggests the closed compound became more common around 1940. (Not solvable by Ngrams, but every time I see a "gowns by" credit I wonder when that last appeared.)

Which isn't to say that "soundstage" wasn't showing up much earlier. (I'm even more fascinated, via movie credits, with the shift from "make up" to "make-up" to "makeup.")

I'm not sure I'm reading my ngrams correctly, but it seems that soundstage didn't entirely overtake sound stage till... ...THE 1980S!

Norman Rockwell sketches Fay Wray on the Paramount lot during the filming of THE TEXAN (1930). Special to @bcdreyer.social: Note the space in "sound stages." Wonder when that closed up?

I am stunned that the constitutional question was so close. I thought it would be 6–3 or 7–2. It is profoundly disturbing that four justices would allow either the president or Congress to rewrite the plain text of the 14th Amendment. This is obviously a good outcome, but the margin is alarming.

As someone who has been struggling with this for months, if not years, without the ability to take any time off due to the crumbling economy and empty social safety net he helped create, I am torn between “glad you got the help you need” and “fuck off.”

Have to thank Tom Kean for letting us know that he missed four months of work to get treatment for his depression because it’s the first thing in weeks to cut through the apathy and fog of my own! Clarifying fury has its benefits!

So he's gonna advocate for all people with depression to get four months off for rehabilitation, right? And he's gonna tell RFK jr to fuck off with his quest to limit the medication that Kean is very clearly taking to be functional?

not for nothing but talking about judicial *reform* is a great idea

I think this is right (re: Ezra Klein steamrolled by the odious Christopher Rufo). Klein evidently thinks he's Chotiner-ishly "givin' him enough rope," but Rufo is in charge.

Cooling centers should be open all night. The defining and deadly characteristic of a heat wave is that it doesn't cool down overnight. This is what gradually cooks the organs of the most vulnerable people.

Oh, so Mr. "Shut Up, I Do So Care About Civil Liberties, My Fee Was Beside the Point" was trying to overturn one of the bedrock press freedom decisions of U.S. history just to score a petty point? I could not possibly be less surprised.

This is genuinely astonishing lmao

Come and join us at UC Santa Cruz! We’re looking for an Asst Professor of Narrative Film and Media Production. We’ve got a great program on a spectacular campus in a beautiful part of the world. recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF02112

Same. Also, I decided a long time ago there was no percentage in being the one reply that says “It stinks.”

For our first guest film critic blog article, CineConnections® invited @glennkenny.bsky.social , the esteemed NY Times / RogerEbert . com contributor and author of Made Men: The Story of ‘Goodfellas’, to write a piece on the subject of movies and dating. www.cineconnections.com/blog/in-prai...

It's that time of year when we have to tell people to not hold lit fireworks.

Ninety percent of YouTube "documentaries" the same...

The latest AI horror visited on the classic-film community—maudlin, interminable "true stories" on Facebook. You've seen them I bet. "Grace Kelly was more than a glamorous movie star..." "The tragic fate of Montgomery Clift would haunt a generation..." 1/3

When It Comes to AI, Happy to Be Left Behind The Threats From the Tech Overlords About the Technology’s Inevitability Fall on Deaf Ears michaeldeibert.substack.com/p/when-it-co...

Mel Brooks (with scenes from David Lynch's "The Elephant Man". The film was produced by Mel Brooks (who was uncredited, to avoid audiences anticipating the film being in the vein of his comedic works)) - BOTD

I enjoy this account more than I probably should.

The circumstance was this.

today's random theater photo: Ray Bolger and Nanette Fabray in By Jupiter (1942), which is also the (rather improbable, I think) answer to the trivia question "What's the longest-running Rodgers and Hart original musical?"

It is, I think, the best theater memoir I've ever read.

Related: I am reading this and kind of becoming insufferable about it, it’s so good.

Second film festival with a baby under one in the books! boxd.it/VlpUa

So good. So suspenseful during the last 20 minutes or so. Flynn & Sheridan were really good together. Some of the camera work looked curiously modern. Thanks for encouraging me to watch! (I had to go to the kitchen tv - my husband was watching FIFA) @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social

Fundraiser ends in three hours!

I haven't seen it but I can't resist the thought of seeing Ann Sheridan with a gun! EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943), today at 5:45 PM on #TCM. #classicmovies #newtome

and yes I know, I accidentally skipped The Morning Monty - but in my defense, #Caturday brought him a nifty present…

“When I was younger, I was kind of fearless. I think it takes more courage to do things when you know more. I was completely naive, and I was like, ‘Why can’t I do anything I want to do?” - Carole King Photos: Sony Music Archives RCA Studios 1959

Sure the Barnes & Noble Criterion flash sale is cool, but make mine severinfilms.com/collections/...

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子). Scanned from the Meiko Fanzine, released in 1974. 📽️ #filmsky 🎥 #japanesefilm

Full rewatch, on purpose, 20 times? Doubtful. More likely—several dozen movies watched 20 or more times in pieces because “I love this part!”

Now spinning, Emmylou Harris - Roses in the Snow (1980). Bluegrass inspired glory. I love the sound of this album. Emmy really taps into the Americana sound.

New clip! We love THE PERFECT MOMENT author @isaacbutler.bsky.social’s last book, THE METHOD, so here he shares an extra bit of information that wasn’t in that book. Watch the full episode on YouTube: buff.ly/WH8tHuC Listen on Apple podcasts: buff.ly/S3ARqym Listen on Spotify: buff.ly/Yu9LGkQ

Peter Lorre #Caturday

Signed by the Master Jafar of Qumm, Iran, cuerda seca tile panel, circa 1850, porcelain

great movie www.vulture.com/article/revi...

Mayor Mamdani took the mayor's Inaugural Swim in east Harlem this morning to open the city's pool season. (Look out for sea hags, Zohran!) Naturally, he wore his swimsuit.

I don't usually gasp when I read, but I just got to: Uncle Pio said that when they had crossed the bridge they would sit down and rest, but it turned out not to be necessary. —Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

I think we've had enough Mayim Bialik for one lifetime. And did she really *make it*? She had one show for four years in the early 90s and was a bit player on a second show in the 2010s she joined three seasons in. She tried to host Jeopardy but everyone hated her. It's not like she won an Oscar.

The great Maggie Smith in Peter Shaffer's LETTICE AND LOVAGE at the Globe Theatre, 1987. #Caturday

My column from Monday. The old Alabama Statehouse was moldy and inaccessible to the public. The new one should correct the physical deficiencies of that building. But not the deeper failings of Alabama state government.

As the co-author of Postal, a book defending Uwe Boll and Postal, it brings me no joy to report that his comeback film, Citizen Vigilante, is the most racist movie since The Birth of a Nation. There's bad, and then there's Citizen Vigilante nathanrabin.substack.com/p/citizen-vi...